Call of Duty anti-cheat causes hackers to “hallucinate.”
Encountering cheaters in Call of Duty can be immensely frustrating. From Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone to Free For All and Arena modes, confronting someone capable of seeing targets through walls is virtually impossible to manage and can prove fatally defeatist to your chances at victory.
As excitement builds around Season 4 Reloaded’s release, fans continue exposing game-breaking bugs. So far, a drop plane bug is forcing players to descend towards the earth while an exploit offers quick ways to earn plenty of ranked SR points.
Activision’s recent efforts against cheaters include upgrades to Ricochet anti-cheat that cause hackers to hallucinate during matches.
On June 29th 2023, Ricochet published a blog post detailing new methods to combat hackers destroying matches in Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone. Most prominent among them is hallucinations mitigation as one solution to their efforts.
“Hallucinations create fake characters within games that can only be detected by those flagged as cheaters by our system. As a mitigation technique against verified cheaters or in discreet mode against suspicious players, hallucinations deployment provides another layer of defense.”
So the decoy acts like an authorized player; its behavior mimics that of one already present in the match, rendering it hard for hackers to distinguish real from fake players. Legitimate players won’t see these fake players either so anyone shooting into thin air has likely exposed themselves as cheaters.
Team Ricochet has also taken steps against false reporting to help combat false allegations of hacking by legitimate players against one another, with notifications alerting players if their report has been investigated and whether or not there has been a ban imposed against any particular reporter or player.
Hallucinations can be an essential weapon against hackers trying to break in and ruin the fun, so if these hallucinations work they could prove monumentally helpful in combatting this threat. For more Call of Duty action check out our guides highlighting the ideal Warzone SO-14 loadout as well as Modern Warfare 2 competitive play loadouts.